When you’re heart is failing and a heart transplant isn’t an option, California Pacific Medical Center offers advanced cardiac care to keep your heart functioning. CPMC is one of 18 Heart Hope Centers nationwide participating in the Heart Hope Initiative, and the only Heart Hope Center in Northern California providing advanced therapies for treating heart failure.

The Heart Hope Initiative is a collaborative effort between the Thoratec Corporation and leading heart centers throughout the country. Together, doctors and Thoratec representatives work to advance clinical outcomes associated with mechanical circulatory assist devices and other advanced therapies.

Destination Therapy

As a Heart Hope Center, CPMC offers the latest technology for destination therapy. Destination therapy is a type of final therapy typically used for the rest of a person’s life expectancy, instead of a therapy used while waiting for a different treatment option such as a heart transplant. However, CPMC has been able to use the assistive devices reserved for destination therapy as a bridge-to-transplant therapy for patients waiting on a donor organ.

Thoratec’s HeartMate XVE is the only left ventricular assist device (LVAD) that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for destination therapy, for both transitioning patients and end-stage heart failure patients who are not eligible for heart transplant. It’s the only implantable long-term LVAD designed to take over the pumping function of the heart. The HeartMate LVAD is a fist-sized device comprised of titanium parts that don’t destroy blood cells. After implantation, the inner surface of the device becomes lined with a patient's own endothelial cells as blood flows through it, allowing for long-term usage.

Becoming a Heart Hope Center

The Thoratec Corporation partnered with each Heart Hope Center based on a number of criteria, including:

• Demonstrated leadership in education, research and treatment of heart disease.
• Dedicated credentialed team of physicians, nurses and support staff.
  Ventricular assist device (VAD) experience and outstanding clinical outcomes.
• Excellent methods for monitoring and evaluation care.
  Meets the strict criteria for Medicare and Medicaid coverage for destination therapy.
• Participates in a national registry to benchmark clinical outcomes.